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Ancient Roman gens. The family was most distinguished from the 5th
cent. B.C. onward. However, little is known of the early members.
Quintus Fabius Vibulanus,. fl. 450 B.C., was consul three times (467,
465, 459) and a member of the decemvirate. Although he had served Rome
well in battle, he was exiled with the other decemvirs.
His descendant, Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus or Rullus,. d. c.291
B.C., was consul five times (322, 310, 308, 297, 295) and dictator
(315). He attacked the Samnites in 325 and was victorious, but his
disobedience of orders brought his condemnation by Lucius Papirius
Cursor, who was dictator at the time. Rullianus was renowned as a
general, especially for his victory over the Etruscans, the Samnites,
and their allies at Sentinum (295).
His descendant, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, d. 203 B.C., the
opponent of Hannibal, was called Cunctator [Lat.,=delayer] because of
his tactics, from which the term Fabian, referring to a waiting policy,
is derived. He was consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, 209) and
dictator (217). Fabius kept his army always near Hannibal's but never
attacked, harassing Hannibal continually, but never joining battle. The
Romans tired of Fabius' policy, and he was supplanted (216); the rout
at Cannae was the result. In his last consulship Fabius took Tarentum
(now Taranto) from Hannibal, a signal victory.
Another branch of the family was represented by Caius Fabius Pictor.
[Lat.,=the painter], fl. 302 B.C., who painted the temple of Salus at
Rome, the first recorded Roman painting.
His grandson was Quintus Fabius Pictor, fl. 225 B.C., the first Roman
annalist; his history covered Rome from Aeneas to the Second Punic War.
His work is lost.
Quintus Fabius Labeo, fl. 180 B.C., praetor (189), was commander of the
fleet in an eastern campaign. He seems to have used his power largely
for his own aggrandizement.
An adoptive member of the gens was Quintus Fabius Maximus, fl. 121
B.C., consul (121), called Allobrogicus, because of his victory over
the Allobroges in Gaul.
Livy 24.8
At the end of this year Quintus Fabius, on the Senate's authority,
fortified and garrisoned Puteoli, a town which had grown populous
during the war as a centre of exchange. On his way from there to Rome
for the elections he announced them for the first date on which they
could legally be held, and on his arrival proceeded direct to the
Campus Martius without entering the City. On election day the right to
vote first fell to the junior section of the Aniensis tribe; they named
for the consulship Titus Otacilius and Marcus Aemilius Regillus,
whereupon Fabius called for silence and addressed the people in the
following terms. 'Anyone who attempted to check the genuine enthusiasm
with which you come here to confer office upon the men of your choice,
would, in my view, be paying too little regard to your liberties, if
Italy were at peace, or if the nature of the war we were involved in
admitted any sort of carelessness. But that is not so: such is the
enemy with whom we are at grips, that not once has a mistake been made
by any general commanding our armies without involving us in terrible
losses; and, that being so, it is your duty in the election of your
consuls to vote with the same sense of responsibility as that with
which you march to battle, and to say, each one of you, to himself, " I
name as consul a man who is as fine a general as Hannibal."
'Earlier this year at Capua a Campanian knight of high distinction,
Vibellius Taurea, issued a challenge; it was answered by a Roman knight
of equal quality, Asellus Claudius. Time was when a Gaul sent us a
challenge on the Anio bridge; to take it up, our fathers sent Titus
Manlius, in all the confidence of his courage and strength. It was for
the same knowledge of his worth, I doubt not, that, not many years
later, Marcus Valerius found himself trusted when he took arms in
answer to a similar challenge from a Gaul. Just as we wish to have
infantry and cavalry stronger than the enemy, or, at least, equal to
him, so we should seek a commander who is a match for his commander.
' When we have chosen the best military officer we have, he will,
immediately upon his appointment - and that for a single year only - be
matched against an experienced general who holds his command
indefinitely, not prevented at everv turn by legal restrictions upon
his period of office from conducting all operations as occasion shall
demand. We, on the contrary, are always preparing - always starting
things afresh - as the annual period comes round again.
'Very good, then: I have told you what qualities you must look for in
the consuls you choose yet remains to say a few words about the men
towards whom the favour of the initial vote has included. Marcus
Aemilius Regillus is the priest of Quirinus, and we cannot either take
him from his duties or keep him at home without neglecting our
responsibility either for religion or for the conduct of the war.
Otacilius is the husband of his niece, and there are children of the
marriage; but the generosity you have shown to me and to my ancestors
is too great to allow me to put the ties of kinship before my duty to
the country. Anyone - sailor or passenger - can steer a ship when the
sea is calm; but when it starts to blow and the waves rise and the
vessel drives before the storm, a helmsman is needed who is a man
indeed. It is on no tranquil sea that we are sailing now; already in
more than one tempest we have come near to sinking; therefore we must
use all possible diligence and foresight in deciding who shall sit at
the helm.
'In certain enterprises, Otacilius, we have already given you a trial,
but you have certainly not offered any obvious reason why we should
trust you in greater things. The fleet you commanded this year was put
into commission for three purposes: to raid the African coast, to
protect the coast of Italy, and, most particularly, to prevent
reinforcements, together with money and provisions, from reaching
Hannibal from Carthage.
'Men of Rome, if Otacilius has rendered his country I will not say all,
but any single one, of these services, then elect him consul; but if,
Otacilius, during your command even such things as Hannibal did not
need reached him as safe and sound as if he had cleared the sea of his
enemies, if the Italian coast has had more dangers for us this year
than the coast of Africa; can you then give any reason why we should
choose you, of all men to lead us against such a foe as Hannibal? If
you were consul, we should follow precedent and propose the appointment
of a dictator; nor would you have any right to be angry because someone
in Rome was considered a better soldier than yourself. That a burden
too heavy to bear should not be laid upon your shoulders is to no one's
advantage more than to your own. 'Citizens of Rome, my most earnest
advice to you is this: imagine you are standing armed for battle, and
have suddenly to choose two men under whose command, with heaven's
help, you are to fight; then, in the spirit with which you would choose
them, choose now the consuls to whom your sons shall swear the oath, by
whose edict they shall assemble, under whose care and protection they
shall serve. It is a bitter thing to remember Trasimene and Cannae; but
they are a warning to beware of similar disasters in the future.
' Herald, call the Junior Century of Aniensis to vote again.'
Otacilius did his best to make a scene, shouting at the top of his
voice that Fabius only wanted to continue his own consulship for
another term, and Fabius, in reply, ordered up his lictors and warned
him that, as he had not entered the city but had proceeded straight to
the Campus Martius, the consular fasces still had their axes. Then the
leading century voted again, with the result that the successful
candidates were Quintus Fabius Maximus (for the fourth time) and Marcus
Marcellus (for the third). The other centuries unanimously followed the
lead and named the same two men.
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